On The Making of White American Identity: Ron Eyerman and Eric Taylor Woods in Conversation

Abstract

In this article, Eric Taylor Woods asks Ron Eyerman about the motivations, methods, and ideas that informed the writing of his recent book, The Making of White American Identity (2022). The conversation focuses particularly on the significance of racism, the Civil War, and popular culture in the founding and sustaining of white American identity as a mobilizing force in American politics. Along the way, Woods and Eyerman discuss the comparability of white American identity with other collective identities, including Northern Irish Unionism; Serbian Identity; and Afrikaner Identity. The aim of printing this conversation is to provoke further research and debate on the cultural sociology of white American identity.